ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - More people are going hungry than ever before, but one non-profit is trying to change that in Mansura.
It’s been a busy year for food pantries. Here at home, the Mansura Care and Hope Ministry Center has been distributing food to over 400 families each month.
“During the pandemic, there was a point where the ministry center next door was feeding 800 boxes, delivering 800 boxes and we’re back down to 430 right now because it’s what we can handle,” said Life Point Community Church Pastor John Riddle.
The food pantry is open two days a week, every week, making sure no one in the parish goes hungry.
“There are times when people don’t have transportation, we will bring their food boxes to them or we will load up their stuff in our vehicle and take it home to them,” said ministry volunteers Rose Williamson and Nicole McGee.
The Food Bank of Central Louisiana supplies the pantry with food, along with donations from Wal-Mart and Harvest Foods.
“That’s one of our main goals is to give out healthy food to help them survive through the month,” said volunteers Rose Williamson and Nicole McGee.
As the only food pantry in Mansura, Life Point Church Pastor John Riddle says the goal is simple: to serve as many people in the community as possible.
“Around here, there’s a lot of people who are on government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid and Medicare, it’s a low employment area, there are not many places of employment, we have a lot of the children come in and we see the needs. Then we try to meet the needs and the mothers are living basically off of the government, we try to help as much as we can with that.”
Life Point Church Pastor John Riddle
The need for food in the parish continues.
“We could probably serve up to 1,000 families if we had the space and room, which is something we’re looking forward to,” said Riddle.
But serving food isn’t the only thing the ministry does. They also have a clothes closet with discounted clothing items, furniture and household goods.
“We’re willing to work with anybody who’s going to come in here in need of something. If it’s too high for them, we’re going to work with them and try to see if we can work something out.”
Ministry Volunteers Rose Williamson and Nicole McGee
Ministry volunteers say the need is crucial, especially in Avoyelles Parish.
“We actually get to see some of the areas they come from and how really poverty-stricken they are, so we know,” said Williamson.
The concept is simple, anyone who walks into the ministry will not be turned away.
“If they’re in need, like say they have a house burn down or just different things happen, we will donate it to them,” said McGee.
A helpful resource to those that have been through so much already.
“We had somebody come to take our overflow to take to the flood victims, we donated it all,” said Williamson and McGee.
The small ministry with a dozen volunteers calls their work “coupons to heaven.”
“Our ministry center next door does what the bible teaches us to do in serving the community, and the bible teaches us to provide for the needs of the community in our area.”
Life Point Church Pastor John Riddle
This is a small act they hope will spread to more people in the community, so they can help as many people as possible.
“We have people come over here and say we didn’t even know y’all existed. But word of mouth is spreading very fast around here,” said McGee.
The pantry is open Monday from 9 a.m. -12 p.m. and Wednesday from 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. The care closet at the ministry is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The ministry is hoping to expand its services and open a new food pantry building behind the church.
If you’re interested in learning more about the non-profit, you can visit their Facebook page here.
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